Global

After René Castro-Salazar attended the first UN led climate talks in Berlin in 1985 as Costa Rica’s environment and energy minister, he tried to talk about agriculture and climate change - but few wanted to join the conversation.
“There was always opposition - and we couldn’t understand why,” said Castro, now assistant director-general at the United Nations’ Food and…
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It might sound strange, but the news is that scientists have been giving assurances, repeatedly, that using nuclear applications in agriculture and food production are giving a major boost to food security. How does this work?
To start with, nuclear applications in agriculture rely on the use of isotopes and radiation techniques to combat pests and diseases, increase crop production, protect…
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A sudden rise in hunger across the globe will require a new emphasis on developing rural economies, the United Nations said on Monday.
After steadily declining for a decade, 2016 saw an increase in hunger, with 815 million people, or 11 percent of the world’s population, chronically undernourished.
That represents an increase of 38 million on the previous year, the UN said, due in part to…
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It’s not just animals, many seed crops are also endangered. So why is agrobiodiversity so overlooked? This valuable source of affordable, nutritious food could disappear if we don’t act.
A “sixth mass extinction” is already under way, scientists are now warning us. Species such as the Bengal tiger and blue whale are vanishing at an alarming rate, and mournful eulogies are being written…
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Asian agriculture research officials have expressed support for the Asean+3 Rice Breeding and Genetics Initiative — a long-term program that aims to address regional food security and national rice sector strategy concerns.
This week’s meeting of the Council for Partnerships on Rice Research in Asia (CORRA) saw officials pledging to endorse the program to their respective agriculture…
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FAO urges countries in the Asia-Pacific region to adopt a more holistic approach and consider the wider range of low-to-high-tech solutions present in the biotechnology toolbox to achieve the food and nutrition security in the region.
The organisation further stressed the need of using other forms of agricultural biotechnologies to reach the goal, which include the use of biofertilisers or…
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The growing demand for food — demand that is expected to double by 2050 — has led to widespread agricultural expansion, primarily at the expense of forests. It is estimated that between 1980 and 2000, more than half of new agricultural land across the tropics was developed on forested land and a further 28 percent opened up on secondary forestland. Despite this expansion and significant…
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Yusup was 23 and working far from home in Japan when he spotted an unusual opportunity. He kept hearing that young people from his home region in West Java, Indonesia, were abandoning their family farms to work in factories. Yusup took the money he’d earned abroad and invested it, purchasing a rice farm and opening a farming supply shop in West Java. Today, Yusuf’s business generates 25…
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Nearly every coastal country in the world has the potential to meet its own domestic seafood needs through aquaculture, suggests a new study.
Aquaculture is the farming of freshwater and saltwater aquatic organisms, including fish, crustaceans and molluscs such as oysters and mussels. The practice is the fastest-growing food sector, and it is hoped that aquaculture could help address…
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